Echoes of Eternity
by FanWriterWV
Summary: Set during the original series. Kirk and his crew encounter a Preserver artifact with a lethal secret. One-shot.


_**Echoes of Eternity**_

_Captain's Log: Stardate 3****_

_After receiving a priority one message from Starfleet Command regarding the discovery of an alien artifact in the Beta Quadrant, Enterprise has been diverted from its current survey mission to assist the scientists who have been studying it. Because the world the artifact was discovered on borders Romulan territory, Starfleet believes that time is of the essence in evacuating the scientists and bringing the artifact, which is believed to be a repository of Preserve knowledge, back to Federation space._

James T. Kirk looked thoughtfully at the Class M planet they were orbiting. It was mostly rock; with apparently very little surface water, yet a cloudy haze covered most of its surface. It looked like an old world, left behind and forgotten-until now.

"Report, Uhuru."

The communications officer shook her head as she concentrated on her receiver. "Still no reply, sir."

"Surface scans indicate that the outpost is intact, Keptin," Chekov added. "Still no signs of life."

"The team was supposed to report in when we arrived in the system," Kirk mused. "Is it possible that the Romulans got here before we did?"

"I'm detecting no trace of any Romulan activity," Sulu answered. "If they were here, they would have left an ion trail for us to follow, or we'd be picking up signs of a cloaked vessel."

The turbo lift doors hissed open as Spock entered the bridge. "Primary analysis of the planet completed, Captain," the half Vulcan, half-human said as he took his place at the science station. "The planet itself is younger than we believed. It exists in a stable orbit around its parent star, but according to the laws of physics as we understand them that star's gravitational field is too weak to hold a body of that size in such an orbit."

"The scientists did indicate that the planet might be artificial," Kirk replied.

"It is quite possible, Captain. We know very little of the Preservers' technology. If they were advanced enough to seed several worlds with humanoid life forms, planet engineering would be logical for a civilization of their level."

"Well, there's only one way to find out." Kirk touched his chair's communicator. "Doctor McCoy, report to the transporter room. Mr. Scott, report to the bridge. Spock, Chekov, Sulu, with me." The younger officers followed their Captain into the turbo lift.

"I read a copy of the initial report the scientists sent before they stopped transmitting," Doctor McCoy said as he stepped onto the transporter pad. "Nothing unusual in their medical records; they were all in top physical condition. There weren't any bacteria on that planet that could have caused some kind of a virus, so medically speaking there isn't any real risk as long as we don't stay down there for too long."

"We'll know soon enough what happened." Kirk nodded at the transporter chief. "Energize."

As they materialized on the planet's surface, Kirk immediately saw what Spock meant about this world being out of place. The star overhead was dim compared to Earth's sun; by all rights, the atmosphere should have been much thinner, yet it was breathable.

"Oxygen-nitrogen," Spock said, confirming his suspicions. "Definitely intended for humanoid life forms."

"And yet you say it shouldn't be," McCoy pointed out. "Doesn't a world that's supposed to be lifeless conflict with your logic, Mr. Spock?"

Spock raised an eyebrow. "The Preservers had many ways of introducing life to different worlds, doctor. Obviously they arrived at their selection through logical means-even if they did give those worlds illogical humans."

"Well, Spock, maybe they just happened to like us." McCoy looked back at him, waiting for a familiar argument.

"We can talk about why the Preservers did what they did later," Kirk gently chided both of them. "Right now let's get to the outpost." He looked at his tricorder. "It's over this way. Come on."

The outpost in question was a single domed structure, with most of the research base itself underground. "I am picking up unusual energy fluctuations," Spock said. He frowned as he studied the readouts on his own tricorder. "Strange. It seems to be an independent energy source. Yet all other power is shut off."

"It could be the artifact," Sulu suggested.

"Perhaps it is scanning us, like an alien probe," Chekov added.

"That is a logical suggestion, Mr. Chekov. If that is the case, we should be on guard."

"We don't know the artifact is hostile," McCoy objected.

"Hostile or not, it has the answers as to what happened to the scientists," Kirk said. "Phasers on standby…alright, let's go."

The interior of the dome was sparsely furnished, containing mostly monitoring equipment. A communications station sat on one side of the room.

"Check that out," Kirk told Spock. "This place was a geological survey station; the research area should be right under our feet."

"The communication equipment has not been used in quite some time," Spock reported. "All log entries are fairly routine reports, except for the last one." He held up his tricorder as the entry appeared on its screen. "'Have made possible breakthrough in decoding the artifact's signals. It appears to be a warning beacon. Early translation efforts suggest that it was placed here by the Preservers to warn alien visitors not to land in a certain area of this planet. Will contact Starfleet for proper procedure and evacuation if necessary.'" Spock turned the screen off. "That is the final entry."

"They must have made some sort of contact," McCoy said.

"We'll know soon enough." Kirk gestured at an access stairwell. "The lab is down there. Let's go."

The lab, like the rest of the outpost, appeared normal, but empty. On an examination table, however, stood an object that resembled a miniature version of the obelisk that they'd discovered on a planet inhabited by Native Americans. The sight of it brought back both good and sad memories for Jim Kirk.

"I am still getting energy readings from the obelisk," Spock said as he walked carefully around the table. "Odd…it appears to be a mixture of garbled transmissions and a…" The first officer suddenly stopped and looked at Kirk. "Captain! Get out of the path of the-"

But Kirk had already seen the pulsing light coming from one of the obelisk's symbols. He remembered enough from his own experience with its larger cousin to instinctively dive out of the way, taking Chekov with him as they went to the floor. A beam of light flashed from the obelisk, circling the room like a rapidly spinning lighthouse as they all flattened themselves on the floor. Finally, it died down, leaving the smell of burning air behind.

"What just happened?" McCoy gasped.

"It looked like some sort of a defense mechanism," Sulu added as he helped Chekov up.

"Indeed." Spock took more readings with his tricorder. "Like the object we encountered on the Native American planet, it appears to be some sort of a deflector. However, when triggered by the scientists, it apparently interpreted their attempts to scan it as a threat and became a weapon."

"You mean it vaporized them?" Chekov asked.

"That would explain the lack of remains," McCoy answered. "The poor devils probably never had a chance." He looked at the obelisk. "So, what do we do with this thing?"

"We'll leave it alone for now," Kirk replied. "We can't risk sending another ship here-we don't know what the range of that beam is. It looks like the Preservers will get what they originally intended after all."

"But we still don't know why they wanted to protect this particular planet," Sulu complained. "After all, there's nothing here-no plant life, no native biology…"

"That may not have been their original intention," Spock said. "This may have simply been one world out of many that the Preservers wished to deposit life on, and for whatever reason, decided not to. I believe it would be wise for us to follow their example."

"Well, I guess even the Preservers could make mistakes." McCoy looked ruefully at the obelisk.

"Well, hopefully, we weren't one of them." Kirk thought for a moment about the Preservers, why they had chosen Earth as one of the worlds to visit, what potential they might have seen in humanity's remote ancestors. He flipped open his communicator. "Kirk to Enterprise…five to beam up."

They dissolved into golden particles, leaving the obelisk and its secrets behind.

THE END


End file.
